Stewart defends himself

Beleagured Cowboys defensive coordinator Brian Stewart declined to discuss whether his play-calling duties have been taken away from him, but he did say Thursday that he’s “comfortable with what we’ve been doing and what we’re going to do.”

Speaking to reporters in Irving, Stewart pointed out that the Cowboys rank 11th in the league in defense. Of course, he failed to mention that they rank 26th in points allowed with a per-game average of 25.0, a more accurate statistic for determining how well a defense is playing.

He also failed to mention that he boasted in training camp that he thought the defense would be the league’s best.

“The season’s not over,” Stewart said. “You should get measured by what you do at the end of the day, right? Not at the beginning. Look at the full body of work. Don’t judge me on not even half of the season.”

Asked whether he thought the unit has been aggressive enough, Stewart replied, “Yeah. Ask Kurt Warner how many times he got hit. Ask Donovan McNabb how many times he got hit. I’m just saying, a lot of times if it’s a run, you can’t really tell if it was a pressure. The thing is, ask the quarterback if he thought we were coming. Ask (Carson) Palmer if he thought we hit him a few times. If anybody knows, I don’t think he’s played since he played us. Watch the game.”